Determination of Five Sex Hormones in Urine Samples for Early Evaluation of Male Reproductive Toxicity Induced by Phthalate Esters in Rats

In this work, male rats were exposed to multiple phthalate esters (MIXPs) in a long-term low-dose model for the early evaluation of reproductive toxicity. An ananlysis method with better sensitivity, accuracy and precision was established to determine the five sex hormones (androstenedione, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and estrone) in collected urine samples. The results showed that all the analytes in the MIXPs treated group changed in a time-dependent manner. Specifically, estrone significantly decreased from the 30th day and the other four changed from the 30th day and then significantly increased on the 60th day, while no obvious changes were found in the control group. Therefore, a possible way was provided for the early evaluation of male reproductive toxicity induced by Phthalate esters (PEs) . The reliability of judgment was improved by observing the changes of five target hormones simultaneously. Furthermore, good compliance was predicted for the practical application due to the noninvasive and convenient urine sample collection.